Who to vote for as a feminist

[WorkingBling]

I am really struggling ahead of the elections. I have decided that commitment to feminist principals needs to be a strong part of my voting decision making process. But I honestly am not sure this helps.

Lib dems have terrible track record and while I like nick's wife, I can't vote for a party where there's only one woman I am impressed by.

Instinctively i am more of a labour supporter but with the exception of Harriet H I honestly feel underwhelmed by their female representation and view on women.

This leaves the conservatives. There are a number of woman in the party who impress me. But Dave doesn't strike me as a man who really believes in feminist principals.

Help please. All you lovely informed women must have some thoughts.

Is your not being able to understand "say-so" within the context of the post inhibiting your ability to understand what the difference is between "empowering" and "empowerfulising" (which has been made up for a particular purpose)? If Buffy's post is too tricky I also outlined the differences in my own post above

"Lib Dems and Greens want to legalise prostitution which in my view will lead to greater exploitation of women."

For what it's worth prostitution is already legal in GB and AFAIK no party (other than the BNP) is in full support of the Nordic model/criminalisation.

An enlightening question to ask is, this power that is so-say newly available to women, do men seek it?

I don't understand "say-so" in that sentence either. Typo for "some say"?

Caroline Lucas didn't give a terribly convincing answer to Andrew Neil on This Week to his question about the inconsistencies in wanting to ban page 3 but legalise brothels.

But Petula, read Buffy's sentence: it still doesn't make any sense, even if you insert "say-so" instead of "so-say", which is what Buffy wrote. What IS that sentence supposed to mean? You are berating me for not understanding what you are writing, but I don't think any of you understand. If you do understand, explain.

Thanks, Phaedra. Literacy is a wonderful thing.

This is really interesting, and very relevant.

I no longer vote for a party. I look at my local candidates and pick the best one of them irrespective (with some limits) of which party they are linked to.

That's a valid approach, imo, NetballHoop. As long as you avoid the BNP and other parties which close down debate and prevent free speech by using fascist bullying.

i'm going to do as cailin suggests and email candidates - i want to hear their own reasonings and motivations and that will help me decide

didyouwritethe do you now understand the difference between empowerment and the intentionally made-up word empowerfulising? because puffins used that made-up word deliberately and did not need correcting

i assume "so-say" is the same as "so-called" in that context. my own "say-so" was lazy typing. i'm not sure why you're focusing on this? it makes sense to me - women are frequently told that things are "empowering", but when you analyse them they align with patriarchal values and serve to keep women down. ergo not actually empowering at all.

Is it empowering of women to gang up on individual women on an internet site (which was set up expressly to be supportive of parents) and accuse them of being men who use prostitutes - just because they express an opinion different from that of the gang?

What is the meaning of "so-say"???

"I am more than happy to explain my meaning, if my attempts to convey the signified via the imprecise medium of inscribing the sign has failed to reach the lofty levels of discourse expected."

That is a very clear sentence. It doesn't explain the use of "so-say".

Did anyone accuse you of being a man who uses prostitutes? Missed that.

Come on, everyone, settle down, hackles away. Peace love, sisterhood. Back to the voting question?

I'm not the kind of feminist who is only interested in myself. I don't think feminism which is purely self-interested is feminism.

who here is self-interested? most are trying to analyse which parties have policies that most benefit women as a class

Lightning, it is a very salient point. Is it OK if feminists who are not recognised as regulars express a viewpoint?

Or must they inevitably be accused of being men who use prostitutes?

MNHQ quite rightly deleted the very offensive posts which accused both fayyive and me of being men who use prostitutes -just because we wanted to express a view that voting Green was a possible option for feminists. Other posts demonstrating the ganging-up still stand.

"I don't like people playing silly games with language to try and belittle"

i agree. i tried to politely explain the difference between "empowering" and "empowerfulising" and i got ???? in return

nothing to do with disagreeing with people, just rude

Oh, gosh, Buffy, have you studied Latin? My word.